This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

China long has been known for its grabs of various seas, islands, territories, and such.

It simply claims it owns whatever it wants.

Now, a startling report reveals that the Chinese Communist Party, whose members essentially control that nation, is insisting on annexing space.

The reporting comes from Gordon G. Chang, a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

On the organization's web pages, he describes how China wants to work with Russia to "build a base on the moon." And it's the south pole.

But that's just a start.

"If the Chinese regime succeeds in building the first facility there, it will try to deny others the ability to land on the lunar surface. The People's Republic of China intends to annex the nearby parts of the solar system," he explained.

"As Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center pointed out to this author, Chinese control of the moon would confer control of Cis-Lunar space, the portion of space between the Earth and the moon. Control of Cis-Lunar space would give a country the ability to shoot down or otherwise disable deep-space satellites, which are essential for, among other things, the early warning of ballistic missile attacks."

Chang noted that none of this is new to Beijing and Moscow, as in 2021 Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, and the China National Space Administration agreed on a plan for a shared moon base.

They want it called the International Lunar Research Station.

Now, Chang wrote, Yura Borisov, chief of Roscosmos, just last week said, "Today, we are seriously considering a project to deliver to the moon and mount a power reactor there jointly with our Chinese partners somewhere between 2033 and 2035."

China has not been idle, he noted.

"China has had a moon presence since 2013 when Chang'e-3 put both a lander and rover on the surface. Chang'e 4, which landed on the moon's far side in January 2019, has been gathering data, presumably for a permanent location."

And the communists plan large, reusable rockets starting as early as next year.

All this means the rest of the world should be alarmed, because of what would be next.

"The universe is an ocean, the moon is the Diaoyu Islands, Mars is Huangyan Island," charged Ye Peijian in 2017, referring to features already claimed by China in the East China and South China Seas.

"If we don't go there now even though we're capable of doing so, then we will be blamed by our descendants. If others go there, then they will take over, and you won't be able to go even if you want to."

Chang noted, "Ye Peijian made it clear that Beijing intends to exclude others from the moon, among other places, if it is in a position to do so."

Even NASA chief Bill Nelson has noted that if China builds a moon base under the guise of science, "It is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, 'Keep out, we're here, this is our territory.'"

And he noted while an international treaty prohibits such claims, "When has a treaty obligation ever stopped the People's Republic from doing whatever it wants?"

He further explained experts say the intent to lay claim to the moon's south pole is significant because there is ice there, water, that "can be used to both hydrate thirsty Chinese taikonauts and Russian cosmonauts and be converted into rocket fuel for missions to Mars."

Brandon Weichert, the author of "Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower," told Gatestone, "It would be akin to staking out all the water holes in the desert."